
Professor Joseph Holden
- Position: Chair of Physical Geography, Director of water@leeds
- Areas of expertise: peatlands; hydrology; water; catchment management; soil; agriculture; climate change; hillslope; water quality; carbon cycling; floods; rivers; drainage; wetlands; upland; moorland; physical geography
- Email: J.Holden@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 3317
- Location: 10.142 School of Geography
- Website: Integrated Catchment Solutions Programme | Twitter | LinkedIn | Googlescholar | ORCID
Profile
Potential PhD applicants from around the world: Please contact me if you have already secured, or will be able to secure from a sponsor, an international scholarship to come to the UK to study and are interested in undertaking a PhD in one or more topics including peatlands, hydrology, catchment management, soil science or agriculture. I would be very happy to speak with you about supervising your PhD and to discuss and design a suitable project with you.
Organisations with funding who need some research or hydrological monitoring undertaken for them: Please contact me at any time - I will be happy to discuss your needs. My research funders include businesses, government research agencies, government departments, charities and trusts, and philanthropists.
Brief biography:
- 1994-1997 BA and MA Geography, University of Cambridge
- 1997-2000 PhD in peatland hydrology, Durham University
- 1998-2002 Part-time lecturer, Earth Sciences Stockton extension, supporting widening participation and mature students, Durham University
- 2000-2002 Teaching Fellow, University of Leeds
- 2002-2005 Independent NERC Research Fellowship, University of Leeds
- 2005-2006 Lecturer in Physical Geography, University of Leeds
- 2006-2007 Reader / Associate Professor in Physical Gepgraphy, University of Leeds
- 2007-now Full Profesor, Chair of Physical Geography (I was the youngest full Professor in the UK at the time)
- 2008-now Director of water@leeds
- 2013-2019 Pro-Dean for Research & Innovation for the Faculty of Environment
- I received the 2007 Philip Leverhulme Prize and the 2011 Gordon Warwick Medal from the British Society for Geomorphology, both for outstanding contributions to science.
- I am Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society
Responsibilities
- Director of water@leeds
- Director of the Yorkshire Integrated Catchment Solutions Programme
Research interests
In my own research I seek to understand the processes associated with the hydrology and carbon dynamics of peatlands under environmental change. I also seek to understand how land management, including agriculture, impacts flowpaths through soils and into watercourses, and also how it impacts on hazard cascades such as flooding, wildfires, pollution, slope stability and drought risk.
I currently have ~£15 million of active grants on which I am a named investigator and I lead the £6M integrated catchment solutions programme (iCASP). Follow my latest publication releases and grant information on twitter at: http://twitter.com/geojho
My research funders include businesses, government research agencies, government departments, charities and trusts, and philanthropists. Example current projects include:
- CONSOLE EU Horizon 2020 - Contract solutions for effective and lasting delivery of agri-environmental-climate public goods by EU agriculture and forestry.
- Mitigating carbon losses on agricultural peatlands funded by Defra
- Peatland restoration in Indonesia funded by Indonesian Government
- Locked Up – enhancing carbon storage in soils funded by NERC
- Using Critical Zone Science to Enhance Soil Fertility and Improve Ecosystem Services for Periurban Agriculture in China funded by NERC and CSF
- Impact of tracks on peatlands funded by NERC and Natural England
- Upland soil management and downstream flood risk funded by NERC and Natural England
- Optimising natural flood management in upland peatlands funded by NERC
- Wessenden and Gorpley natural flood management funded by The National Trust
- MycoRhizaSoil: Combining wheat genotypes with cultivation methods to facilitate mycorrhizosphere organisms improving soil quality and crop resilience - funded by BBSRC
- Forest to bog restoration - Restoring peatlands after afforestation and timber harvest - funded by Forest Research
- Peatland restoration and water quality - funded by Yorkshire Water
- Mapping wetlands across Africa - funded by Nigerian Government
- Impact of flooding on embankment safety for transport infrastructure - funded by NERC
- Impact of pipe blocking on degraded peatland hydrology - funded by Moors for the Future
- PeatDataHub
- Role of organic grazing on soil function - funded by NERC and Natural England
- Impact of Sphagnum colonization on peatland overland flow and river response - funded by Moors for the Future Partnership
- Prescribed fire effects on peatland vegetation - funded by NERC and Natural England
I am a Chartered Geographer, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society.
I edit and write for several major textbooks:
- An Introduction to Physical Geography and the Environment
- Water Resources: an integrated approach
- Physical Geography - the basics
PhD studentships
I currently supervise 11 PhD students from a wide range of countries including China, Indonesia, Oman, the Netherlands, Nigeria and the UK. I am happy to supervise talented research postgraduates in my research field. If you would be interested in sponsoring a PhD project to allow talented researchers to fulfil their potential and undertake a PhD then please contact me.
Current students include:
- Rachael Osguthorpe
- Steph Bond
- Manal Al Balushi
- Iain Johnston
- Tim Howson
- Jess Williams
- Xinyue He
- Jack Houston
- Taco Regensburg
- Sani Idris Garba
- Santosa Sandy Putra
Advisory Boards
I am a member of several advisory boards including:
- Science Advisory Board, IGB Berlin
- Science Advisory Board, MS Amlin
- Yorkshire West Local Nature Partnership
- Natural Environment Research Council College
- iCASP - The Yorkshire Integrated Catchment Solutions Programme
- Impact of tracks on peatland hydrological functioning
- LOCKED UP: The role of biotic and abiotic interactions in the stabilisation and persistence of soil organic carbon
- Mitigating impacts of agriculture on peatland carbon losses
- Optimising NFM in headwater catchments to protect downstream communities
- Role of upland organo-mineral soils in flood risk
Qualifications
- MA Geography, University of Cambridge
- PhD, University of Durham
- Chartered Geographer, Royal Geographical Society
Professional memberships
- Royal Geographical Society
- Royal Meteorological Society
- American Geophysical Union
- European Geosciences Union
- British Hydrological Society
- British Society for Geomorphology
Student education
I teach hydrological topics, particularly on the MSc programmes in River Basin Dynamics
Research groups and institutes
- water@leeds
- River Basin Processes and Management
Current postgraduate researchers
- Stephanie Bond
- Alice Noble
- Rachael Osguthorpe
- Taco Regensburg
- Jiren Xu
- Iain Johnston
- Sani Idris Garba
- Tim Howson
- Santosa Sandy Putra
- Jess Williams
- Xinyue He
- Manal AL Balushi